Provided by: postfix_3.9.1-3_amd64 
NAME
postmulti - Postfix multi-instance manager
SYNOPSIS
Enabling multi-instance management:
postmulti -e init [-v]
Iterator mode:
postmulti -l [-aRv] [-g group] [-i name]
postmulti -p [-av] [-g group] [-i name] postfix-command...
postmulti -x [-aRv] [-g group] [-i name] unix-command...
Life-cycle management:
postmulti -e create [-av] [-g group] [-i name] [-G group] [-I name] [param=value ...]
postmulti -e import [-av] [-g group] [-i name] [-G group] [-I name]
[config_directory=/path]
postmulti -e destroy [-v] -i name
postmulti -e deport [-v] -i name
postmulti -e enable [-v] -i name
postmulti -e disable [-v] -i name
postmulti -e assign [-v] -i name [-I name] [-G group]
DESCRIPTION
The postmulti(1) command allows a Postfix administrator to manage multiple Postfix
instances on a single host.
postmulti(1) implements two fundamental modes of operation. In iterator mode, it executes
the same command for multiple Postfix instances. In life-cycle management mode, it adds
or deletes one instance, or changes the multi-instance status of one instance.
Each mode of operation has its own command syntax. For this reason, each mode is
documented in separate sections below.
BACKGROUND
A multi-instance configuration consists of one primary Postfix instance, and one or more
secondary instances whose configuration directory pathnames are recorded in the primary
instance's main.cf file. Postfix instances share program files and documentation, but have
their own configuration, queue and data directories.
Currently, only the default Postfix instance can be used as primary instance in a
multi-instance configuration. The postmulti(1) command does not currently support a -c
option to select an alternative primary instance, and exits with a fatal error if the
MAIL_CONFIG environment variable is set to a non-default configuration directory.
See the MULTI_INSTANCE_README tutorial for a more detailed discussion of multi-instance
management with postmulti(1).
ITERATOR MODE
In iterator mode, postmulti performs the same operation on all Postfix instances in turn.
If multi-instance support is not enabled, the requested command is performed just for the
primary instance.
Iterator mode implements the following command options:
Instance selection
-a Perform the operation on all instances. This is the default.
-g group
Perform the operation only for members of the named group.
-i name
Perform the operation only for the instance with the specified name. You can
specify either the instance name or the absolute pathname of the instance's
configuration directory. Specify "-" to select the primary Postfix instance.
-R Reverse the iteration order. This may be appropriate when updating a multi-instance
system, where "sink" instances are started before "source" instances.
This option cannot be used with -p.
List mode
-l List Postfix instances with their instance name, instance group name,
enable/disable status and configuration directory.
Postfix-wrapper mode
-p postfix-command
Invoke postfix(1) to execute postfix-command. This option implements the
postfix-wrapper(5) interface.
• With "start"-like commands, "postfix check" is executed for instances that
are not enabled. The full list of commands is specified with the
postmulti_start_commands parameter.
• With "stop"-like commands, the iteration order is reversed, and disabled
instances are skipped. The full list of commands is specified with the
postmulti_stop_commands parameter.
• With "reload" and other commands that require a started instance, disabled
instances are skipped. The full list of commands is specified with the
postmulti_control_commands parameter.
• With "status" and other commands that don't require a started instance, the
command is executed for all instances.
The -p option can also be used interactively to start/stop/etc. a named instance
or instance group. For example, to start just the instances in the group "msa",
invoke postmulti(1) as follows:
# postmulti -g msa -p start
Command mode
-x unix-command
Execute the specified unix-command for all Postfix instances. The command runs
with appropriate environment settings for MAIL_CONFIG, command_directory,
daemon_directory, config_directory, queue_directory, data_directory,
multi_instance_name, multi_instance_group and multi_instance_enable.
Other options
-v Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple -v options make the
software increasingly verbose.
LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT MODE
With the -e option postmulti(1) can be used to add or delete a Postfix instance, and to
manage the multi-instance status of an existing instance.
The following options are implemented:
Existing instance selection
-a When creating or importing an instance, place the new instance at the front of the
secondary instance list.
-g group
When creating or importing an instance, place the new instance before the first
secondary instance that is a member of the specified group.
-i name
When creating or importing an instance, place the new instance before the matching
secondary instance.
With other life-cycle operations, apply the operation to the named existing
instance. Specify "-" to select the primary Postfix instance.
New or existing instance name assignment
-I name
Assign the specified instance name to an existing instance, newly-created instance,
or imported instance. Instance names other than "-" (which makes the instance
"nameless") must start with "postfix-". This restriction reduces the likelihood of
name collisions with system files.
-G group
Assign the specified group name to an existing instance or to a newly created or
imported instance.
Instance creation/deletion/status change
-e action
"Edit" managed instances. The following actions are supported:
init This command is required before postmulti(1) can be used to manage Postfix
instances. The "postmulti -e init" command updates the primary instance's
main.cf file by setting:
multi_instance_wrapper =
${command_directory}/postmulti -p --
multi_instance_enable = yes
You can set these by other means if you prefer.
create Create a new Postfix instance and add it to the multi_instance_directories
parameter of the primary instance. The "-I name" option is recommended to
give the instance a short name that is used to construct default values for
the private directories of the new instance. The "-G group" option may be
specified to assign the instance to a group, otherwise, the new instance is
not a member of any group.
The new instance main.cf is the stock main.cf with the parameters that
specify the locations of shared files cloned from the primary instance. For
"nameless" instances, you should manually adjust "syslog_name" to yield a
unique "logtag" starting with "postfix-" that will uniquely identify the
instance in the mail logs. It is simpler to assign the instance a short name
with the "-I name" option.
Optional "name=value" arguments specify the instance config_directory,
queue_directory and data_directory. For example:
# postmulti -I postfix-mumble \
-G mygroup -e create \
config_directory=/my/config/dir \
queue_directory=/my/queue/dir \
data_directory=/my/data/dir
If any of these pathnames is not supplied, the program attempts to generate
the missing pathname(s) by taking the corresponding primary instance
pathname, and replacing the last pathname component by the value of the -I
option.
If the instance configuration directory already exists, and contains both a
main.cf and master.cf file, create will "import" the instance as-is. For
existing instances, create and import are identical.
import Import an existing instance into the list of instances managed by the
postmulti(1) multi-instance manager. This adds the instance to the
multi_instance_directories list of the primary instance. If the "-I name"
option is provided it specifies the new name for the instance and is used to
define a default location for the instance configuration directory (as with
create above). The "-G group" option may be used to assign the instance to
a group. Add a "config_directory=/path" argument to override a default
pathname based on "-I name".
destroy
Destroy a secondary Postfix instance. To be a candidate for destruction an
instance must be disabled, stopped and its queue must not contain any
messages. Attempts to destroy the primary Postfix instance trigger a fatal
error, without destroying the instance.
The instance is removed from the primary instance main.cf file's
alternate_config_directories parameter and its data, queue and configuration
directories are cleaned of files and directories created by the Postfix
system. The main.cf and master.cf files are removed from the configuration
directory even if they have been modified since initial creation. Finally,
the instance is "deported" from the list of managed instances.
If other files are present in instance private directories, the directories
may not be fully removed, a warning is logged to alert the administrator. It
is expected that an instance built using "fresh" directories via the create
action will be fully removed by the destroy action (if first disabled). If
the instance configuration and queue directories are populated with
additional files (access and rewriting tables, chroot jail content, etc.)
the instance directories will not be fully removed.
The destroy action triggers potentially dangerous file removal operations.
Make sure the instance's data, queue and configuration directories are set
correctly and do not contain any valuable files.
deport Deport a secondary instance from the list of managed instances. This deletes
the instance configuration directory from the primary instance's
multi_instance_directories list, but does not remove any files or
directories.
assign Assign a new instance name or a new group name to the selected instance.
Use "-G -" to specify "no group" and "-I -" to specify "no name". If you
choose to make an instance "nameless", set a suitable syslog_name in the
corresponding main.cf file.
enable Mark the selected instance as enabled. This just sets the
multi_instance_enable parameter to "yes" in the instance's main.cf file.
disable
Mark the selected instance as disabled. This means that the instance will
not be started etc. with "postfix start", "postmulti -p start" and so on.
The instance can still be started etc. with "postfix -c config-directory
start".
Other options
-v Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple -v options make the
software increasingly verbose.
ENVIRONMENT
The postmulti(1) command exports the following environment variables before executing the
requested command for a given instance:
MAIL_VERBOSE
This is set when the -v command-line option is present.
MAIL_CONFIG
The location of the configuration directory of the instance.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files.
daemon_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
The directory with Postfix support programs and daemon programs.
import_environment (see 'postconf -d' output)
The list of environment variables that a privileged Postfix process will import
from a non-Postfix parent process, or name=value environment overrides.
multi_instance_directories (empty)
An optional list of non-default Postfix configuration directories; these
directories belong to additional Postfix instances that share the Postfix
executable files and documentation with the default Postfix instance, and that are
started, stopped, etc., together with the default Postfix instance.
multi_instance_group (empty)
The optional instance group name of this Postfix instance.
multi_instance_name (empty)
The optional instance name of this Postfix instance.
multi_instance_enable (no)
Allow this Postfix instance to be started, stopped, etc., by a multi-instance
manager.
postmulti_start_commands (start)
The postfix(1) commands that the postmulti(1) instance manager treats as "start"
commands.
postmulti_stop_commands (see 'postconf -d' output)
The postfix(1) commands that the postmulti(1) instance manager treats as "stop"
commands.
postmulti_control_commands (reload flush)
The postfix(1) commands that the postmulti(1) instance manager treats as "control"
commands, that operate on running instances.
syslog_facility (mail)
The syslog facility of Postfix logging.
syslog_name (see 'postconf -d' output)
A prefix that is prepended to the process name in syslog records, so that, for
example, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd".
Available in Postfix 3.0 and later:
meta_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
The location of non-executable files that are shared among multiple Postfix
instances, such as postfix-files, dynamicmaps.cf, and the multi-instance template
files main.cf.proto and master.cf.proto.
shlib_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
The location of Postfix dynamically-linked libraries (libpostfix-*.so), and the
default location of Postfix database plugins (postfix-*.so) that have a relative
pathname in the dynamicmaps.cf file.
FILES
$meta_directory/main.cf.proto, stock configuration file
$meta_directory/master.cf.proto, stock configuration file
$daemon_directory/postmulti-script, life-cycle helper program
SEE ALSO
postfix(1), Postfix control program
postfix-wrapper(5), Postfix multi-instance API
README FILES
Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate this information.
MULTI_INSTANCE_README, Postfix multi-instance management
HISTORY
The postmulti(1) command was introduced with Postfix version 2.6.
LICENSE
The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
AUTHOR(S)
Victor Duchovni
Morgan Stanley
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
Wietse Venema
Google, Inc.
111 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10011, USA
POSTMULTI(1)